At The Chelsea, inside the luxurious Cosmopolitan hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Sebastian Fundora (25-1-1, 17 KOs) defeated Albania’s Ermal Hadribeaj (23-1-1, 8 KOs) by 12th-round knockout.
The two fighters, both southpaws, engaged in an intense and grueling battle. For Fundora, it proved to be a tougher fight than expected. Round after round, Sebastian gradually wore Hadribeaj down until the final stoppage. But the challenger made life extremely difficult for the champion, at least for as long as his legs and stamina held up.
As in every Fundora fight, distance management becomes a crucial factor, especially for the man facing him. Hadribeaj immediately gave the impression that he had prepared thoroughly for the contest, moving constantly, closing the distance, landing punches and clinching to prevent the champion from putting his combinations together.
Fundora needed one round to find his rhythm. As early as the second, he managed to shake his opponent with a dangerous left hand. Hadribeaj, however, responded immediately, showing that he was not the least bit intimidated by Fundora.
The fight became increasingly physical and rough. Hadribeaj’s strategy quickly became clear: make the fight messy, stay close to Fundora to deny him space and smother his offense, and catch him with quick hooks. But already in the third round, the referee decided to deduct a point for excessive holding.
Under constant pressure, Fundora struggled to produce his best boxing, largely because Hadribeaj was continually crowding him. Whenever he managed to shake his opponent off, he could finally make use of his long arms, particularly with the uppercut. The contest was extremely rough, with the Albanian proving highly skilled at tying Fundora up, neutralizing his offense and then catching him with quick hooks. Fundora, however, intelligently made some adjustments, taking a step back to create enough room to unleash his left uppercut.
The champion began increasing the pace at the first signs of Hadribeaj slowing down, as the challenger’s intense and physically demanding tactics started taking their toll. Fundora seized the opportunity to shift into a higher gear and let his hands go. Hadribeaj, however, remained dangerous, skillfully landing repeated, fast overhand punches as he moved forward.
Fatigue gradually robbed the challenger of his stamina, intensity and pace, allowing Fundora to occasionally create the space he needed to land his straight punches. It was above all with the uppercut, however, that the American inflicted the most damage.
Once Fundora found the right formula, he began landing heavy punches to the head and, more importantly, to the body to break down Hadribeaj’s resistance. Fundora is particularly effective when punching on the front foot, and the Albanian’s increasingly static movement, caused by obvious exhaustion, allowed the champion to display his best boxing. Hadribeaj tried to resist, but clearly drained, he could do little more than throw occasional looping punches or resort to clinching, which also cost him a second point deduction in the 11th round.
By now overwhelmed by the punches of “The Towering Inferno,” Hadribeaj tried to hold on heroically until the final bell. But Fundora literally bombarded him with punches before sending the Albanian to the canvas with an uppercut and a left hook just as the final bell sounded. Referee Thomas Taylor could have let the matter rest, allowing Hadribeaj the consolation of having made it to the final bell, but instead decided to rule it a knockout.
Fundora thus retained his WBC world super welterweight title.
During the post-fight interviews, the names of Boots Ennis and Josh Kelly emerged as possible future opponents. Sebastian made his intentions clear: he wants to fight the best.